Defeating The Horror
by Duel1
Summary: It was about two years after the defeat of Sephiroth, the world was back to normal. Avalanche had broken up, but kept in touch. But Tifa and Red XIII would discover a force greater than any other, and fight for their lives, and the rest of the world's, to
1. Discovering The Horror

The bar was dimly lit. A small light hung overhead of the bartender as he poured  
out a beer for the woman. The bar didn't get a lot of women, but when it did, they  
were usually out of town or some of the older people looking to drink their problems  
away. But this woman caught the bar tendor's attention, he eyed her quickly when she  
walked in and eyed her more respectively when she sat down. She was clearly large  
chested, wearing a small white shirt. Her pants were very short, a little bit higher then  
mid thigh length, but not enoug hso that her ass would be hanging out. Her pants were  
a normal shade of brown, and they were held by a button pushed through a small hole  
in the front. She wore brown boots and had short white socks on. He hair was kind of  
a mix of black and brown, and it came down very long, maybe about to her mid back.  
She had a cute face, in which the bar tendor was fascinated by. Pretty women like  
this don't come along often, he thought.  
  
"Five Gil" the bar tendor said as he slid the mug of beer over to her. She reached in  
her pocket and pulled out exactly five gil, and slid it to him. He picked it up greatfully  
and put it in the cash register. The bar didn't have many people in it, as it never usually  
did, but it had a bit more than usual. Maybe about ten people if you were to count  
everyone including the bar tendor. The bar tendor was a small, older man whose hair  
began to turn white a while ago. He wore blue overalls and a red shirt. You could see  
he was cleary a bit over weight, as the bulge in his overalls was rounded like a  
basketball or a beach ball. His hair line was starting to move back, and he was clearly  
beginning to go bald. He looked at the woman as she took her first sip of the beer. "So,  
what's a pretty woman like you doin in a place like this?" the bar tendor said nervously.  
He didn't want to say anything, but he just couldn't pass on this. The woman looked at  
him strangely, and replied "Just visiting a friend, you know him as Nanaki." The man  
stared for a moment, then remembered her. She was here about a year or two ago,  
with a bunch of people. He remembered her a lot more clearly now. "Weren't you here  
about a year or two ago? With those guys and that girl?" She looked up at him, and  
gave a faint smile, and gave a small reply "Yes." and looked up at the dimly lit light.  
  
"Yes, I remember you now. The name's Joe, nice to meet you!" he held out his hand  
in a handshake, but she ignored it. "Tifa" she said faintly and continued to look around the  
bar. The bar tendor put his hand down slowly, and turned back to get to work. He could  
tell she was either in a bad mood or didn't like being came onto by strangers with white  
hair and big stomaches. He went into the back to get more beer for the night. Across  
the bar, on the end of the counter, a man sat in, drinking a beer, and observing Tifa. He  
was a big man, short black hair, and black clothing. He looked down at his watch for  
a moment, and then straight back at Tifa. He seen her turn when the news came on the  
TV. "Shinra still stumped on murders around the world" the news reporters said. Tifa  
gripped the handle of her mug tightly. The urge to throw it straight at the TV rising. She  
had to resist it though, she didn't have the money on her to pay for anything damaged  
and she didn't want to give herself a bad reputation in the canyon. But the urge kept  
coming, she knew it was probably all lies, as that was all Shinra ever was. A company  
set to lie to the public and make themselves look good. Headager and Scarlett were  
among of the ones killed. Tifa thought that the new president, who was a fine friend of  
Rufus before his death, was behind the killings. He knew all the dirt on Shinra and fed  
into it greatly, as he would someday come to control it. Jack Reid was his name, but  
he was referred to by everyone as "Dagger", and he had always carried a dagger  
with him and was rumored to have killed lots of animals hunting with it. Dagger met  
Rufus when they were young, so they grew up together and learned about Shinra  
together. Dagger hadn't the least bit interest in Rufus' death, as he knew Rufus  
had written that he was to become president if anything ever happened to him,  
which Rufus highly doubted would.  
  
Tifa drank the rest of her beer and slowly got up. The man observed her and drank  
the rest of his beer too. She walked through the door and closed it. The man quickly  
got up and also went through the door. The bar tendor came out with more beer, and  
seen Tifa was gone. "Damnit" he said, he wanted to eye her up more, but that   
opportunity was gone now. Tifa walked through the main part of Cosmo Canyon,  
by the fire place and towards the steps. The man followed slowly behind her, staying  
on the edge so he wouldn't be seen by her. But walking very normally so he wouldn't  
by suspected of anything. Tifa said goodbye to the gatekeeper as she walked down  
the stairs and out of the canyon. The man followed about thirty seconds afterward.  
Red XIII sat on the ledge of the first stairs leading up as he looked straight down  
towards the entrance of the canyon, and how the man walked out after her. He  
didn't like the look of it one bit, but he sat there for a minute, and finally walked  
slowly down the stairs onto ground level.  
  
Tifa walked in the direction of NibelHeim. Some activists planted a lot of trees  
near the river, and they seemed to grow at the speed of light because there was  
now a forest there. Tifa walked toward it, and BAM! Tifa felt a large hit in her back  
and she was now on her knees and falling forward onto her face in the mud. She  
gave a small screamn and quickly rolled through the mud forward and hoisted  
herself up. It was the man from the bar that had followed her, she hadn't even  
seen him in the bar, let alone seeing him following her. She put her fists up  
and punched him in the face. He stumbled back a bit and then drew his fist  
back and drove it straight into her left cheek. The pain was atrocius, and she fell  
backwards back into the mud, which was now all over her pants, shirt, face, hair,  
and all over her legs. It had rained earlier and was starting to pick up again. Tifa  
gave out a loud howl and got herself up. She looked at the man who was now  
advancing on her quick and began to run. She usually never ran from a fight but  
never in her life had she ever been hit as hard as that! The forest was the only place  
left, as she started into it, the man not far behind her. Lucky for her, she could run  
really fast due to her long legs, so she was clearly advancing ahead of the man.  
Who is he!? Tifa thought quickly as she jumped over a small tree trunk. What does  
he want? She was getting carried away in thoughts other than getting away and that  
would cost her dearly. She tripped over a small branch that was sticking out and fell.  
She scrambled to get back up but slipped in the mud. The moon was brightly seen  
through the trees, and she hadn't been this scared since she went up against  
Sephiroth with the rest of her crew.  
  
As she slipped again, she felt herself rising now, and a horrible pain in her head. She  
was being lifted up backwards by her hair. She screamed but no one was around to hear  
it now, as they were deep in the forest. Now it was pouring, and the rain splashed loudly  
on the forest. Tifa looked into the man's eyes and seen what looked like an almost  
inhuman stare. He looked at her and punched her down. She rolled over and leaned back  
on both of her elbows and looked up at him. He looked straight at her and started to come  
down on her, but right to Tifa's rescue was Red XIII! She heard a small snarling noise to   
the right and saw the man turn. At that moment, the man's head turned, Red XIII was up  
in the air, front legs stretched out forward, and his mouth open in a fit of rage. The man  
quickly put his head down and ducked a bit, which exposed the back of his neck. But  
that was it, as Red XIII went over the man, he managed to get his head down and dig  
into the back of the man's neck. Red XIII was still going forward though, and the man's  
head came off in a bone chilling RRRIIIIPPP. Red XIII dropped it was fast as he had  
torn it off, and it rolled a bit and then stopped, an expression of pain on it. The body  
simply fell to the ground, blood pouring out of the hole like a faucet. Red XIII looked  
at Tifa, who was now half way up. He walked to her and she simply dropped to her  
knees and hugged him around his neck. "Thank You Red XIII!" she exclaimed, just  
about crying now, she was very dirty. "Anytime" he said roughly, and she let go of  
him and looked at him. "But, you killed him, what are we going to do?" she asked  
nervously. Red XIII only looked at her, as a sound was heard behind them. Tifa   
got up quickly and Red XIII turned around. The body was now moving, almost   
twitching a bit as two long claw looking things came out of the hole where the  
head was. The bent down towards the arm and out plummeted a little creature,  
about four feet high, long legs, and it has a small head that didn't come above its  
shoulders. It's claws were big and very sharp looking, they came out forward and  
then bent down again, like an elbow. The creature was mostly black but was very  
bloody from the body. The creature looked at Red XIII and Tifa, and gave out a  
high, inhuman wail, then strode off very quickly into the forest, away from the two  
who had just seen it. Tifa put her hands over her mouth and gave out a loud  
shriek. Red XIII was also stunned and instead of a shriek let out a large roar.  
What the hell had just happened?  
  
"What, the FUCK, was that!?" Tifa exclaimed loudly. Red XIII stayed silent, as he had  
no explanation for it. All he could think about was what had just happened, but he had to  
say something soon. "C'mon, let's go back to the canyon." That was the only thing that  
had come out of his mouth. It sounded stupid to him, but Tifa greatfully said ok. They   
walked slowly, as they were both stunned, and they were both keeping their alert up  
high, as if that thing came back, they would either try to kill it or run away. But what had  
they just seen? There were surely no records of something like that ever living, Tifa  
thought to herself, and even though she didn't know, Red XIII was thinking the same  
thing. They got back to the canyon around 11:00 P.M. They were both soaked and all  
of the residents were in, except the gatekeeper, who was sitting under a small tent. He  
stared at Tifa ad Red XIII surprisingly, and wondered what had happened. He didn't  
talk because he thought it would better to not bother them or at least wait until another  
time. Red XIII and Tifa went to the top house where Bugenhagen used to live. Tifa sat  
down at the table, as did Red XIII. "There's a shower upstairs, go wash up." Without a  
word, Tifa nodded and climbed the ladder to the middle platform. Red XIII heard the  
shower go on, and he got himself something to drink. Whatever that was, it wasn't  
human and wasn't anything he had ever seen before. He though about what would  
of happened if he hadn't been there. A small chill went through his body, and his tail  
wagged back and forth nervously. Although he wasn't human, Red XIII had a good  
handle on things, and learned to do things such as sit down or drink. About a half hour  
later, Tifa came down the ladder in a blue robe. Her body was now clean and her hair  
still wet. "I also washed my clothes, is it alright if I wear this until they dry?" she asked   
him with concern. "Go ahead, it's fine, you don't have to ask for things here" Red XIII  
replied warmly. Tifa smiled, she was glad she had a friend like him. Even though  
Avalanche broke apart, they still kept in touch, well, some of them anyway. Yuffie  
hadn't been the type to be all warm heart and keep in touch, some tried, but she  
didn't really care.  
  
"Look Tifa, I don't know what that was, and I don't think you do either. I think we should  
just keep quiet about a for a while, until we know more" Red XIII said with such a look of  
seriousness on his face it was scary. Tifa nodded. "But, do you think it has anything to do  
with Shinra? Ya know, the experiments they do" she asked him suspiciously. Red XIII  
stared at her for a moment, then regretfully said "Yes." Tifa nodded, then got up and got  
a beer. She sat back down.  
"I think when we know more we should try to find out about it, like go to Midgar  
and get some files."  
"Tifa!" Red XIII yelled astonised!  
"I know, I know, but that thing is out to kill people, I think we should at least know about it  
so if we ever need to fight it" she stopped, then looked at Red XIII.  
"Do you think were going to be able to raid their headquarters alone? The security has  
been upgraded, the guards are much more strong, I'm not saying we couldn't do it, but  
it would be hard."  
"Well, I say we call up Barret. He's always hated Shinra, we'll see what he thinks. We'll tell  
him about what happened, then if he thinks we should, it will be me, you, and him. I don't  
think it's wise to let the whole crew know yet, as if we did we would be caught."  
"Yes" Red XIII nodded. "Well, I say we get to sleep, its almost 1:00."  
"Yes" Tifa replied.  
  
They both went up the ladder, there were three beds there and a couch. Red XIII jumped  
onto one of the bed and curled up in a ball as he layed in the middle of it. Tifa looked at   
him for a moment and got under the covers. The lights were turned out and Tifa lay  
awake for about an hour. Thinking of what would come the next day. She hadn't been  
expecting this, and sort of didn't want to tell anyone, just let it go, but she couldn't.  
Neither could Red XIII, after seeing that creature, people aren't safe with it running  
around free. Eventually, she thought herself to sleep, not knowing about the next  
day, not really wanting to know. 


	2. Leaving

Approximately 2:30 A.M.  
  
Blood poured out of the creatures shoulder, which was basically parallel  
with it's head. Red XIII's rip had reached down to it, and the creature was now  
wounded. It trotted along slowly through the woods, looking for someone or  
something to kill, it was hungry, and was desperate. The creature stopped,  
looked around, it felt the warmth of its blood flowing down it's body and onto  
the ground. The creature gave a small snarling hiss, and continued running  
towards the river. Running along, the creature thought about the two that  
had seen it. The creature was infuriated, and it's main goal would be to kill  
them. How had they gotten it to retreat? the creature thought. This had never  
happened to him before, and he was damned if he was going to get killed.  
The creature reached the river and stopped. A bit of forest was still on the  
other side, and there was a line of rocks to the other side. Probably put  
there by some kids playing. The creature hopped from rock to rock, water  
occasionally splashing him. The water was cool, and it felt good against his  
wound. The creature reached the other side, and spotted a bear.  
  
The small creature creeped slowly and quietly on the bear, who was  
walking in the other direction. The creature got close enough, and jumped  
high into the air onto the bears back. The bear roared and stood on two legs,  
but the creature held on. It started clawing at the bears back, and the bear  
went berserk. The pain was unbearable, and the bear took off fast towards  
the end of the forest. Blood started to squirt up into the air and shower down  
in a trail in the back of the bear. The bear roared and just before the end of the  
forest, the bears head shot straight up into the air and the bear fell on it's side.  
The creature jumped off and walked slowly to the head, it used it's claw to  
slowly open the bear's mouth, and the other to get it open wide. The creature  
shoved itself into the bears mouth, using it's claws to guide itself to the throat.  
The creature was to the throat and used it's legs to push itself into the stomach.  
It disappeared totally into the bear. A small child came trotting along from a  
tent a few seconds later and saw the dead bear. He walked to it cautiously  
and stopped. He picked up a stick and gave it a poke. Nothing. He didn't  
see it, but the cut in the bear's back healed up. The creature positioned itself  
into the bear's system, and opened it's eyes. He saw the boy. As fast as the  
bear fell, the bear rose and the child screamed. Like a flash of lightning, the  
bear's mouth came down onto the child's head, and locked in. After about  
five seconds, blood poured down the childs shoulders and down his body  
onto the ground. A huge pool on the ground after five seconds. The bear  
put it's front paws on the childs feet and pulled up, the child's head ripped  
right off his shoulder's, and his body fell to the ground. The bear then  
proceeded to eat the body, and the bear grew about three times it's size.  
  
The bear simply grabbed the body by it's arm and threw it up into  
the air and swallowed it. The boy's young blood tasted great to the  
creature, who was now in complete control of the bear's body. The rain  
was soaking the bear's fur, and he looked over and saw the tent, and  
two shadows in it on top of each other. Slight moaning was heard. The  
bear walked slowly to the tent and sniffed around. Reproducing, the  
creature thought. Well, he wasn't going to let that happen, and being a  
very huge bear now, he leaned his head down and gripped the top of  
the tent with his teeth. He pulled it upward in one fast motion and the  
tent flew up and got stuck in the trees. The bear looked down at a  
woman and man, who were under covers. They both screamed and  
both screamed and picked up and ran. Both naked. The bear took  
off after them, he was sure to have his way with them. Both of them  
naked, running deeper into the woods, towards the river. They  
finally reached, as it wasn't that far, and they hopped the rocks as  
fast as they could, which wasn't all that fast at all. At about the last  
rock, the bear landed in front of them. He had hoped the river onto  
the other side. The woman was in front of the man, and as she saw  
the bear she stopped so suddenly she fell onto her ass. The bear  
brought it's teeth right down into her chest, and flung her up into  
the air and snapped his mouth out forward and bit her in half. The  
man, who was completely horrified, ran the other way. The bear  
ran on the rocks very quickly and bit onto the man's right leg, and  
brought him backwards and up very fast, the man stopped in  
mid air for a moment, then totally detached from his leg and flew  
back over the river and into a tree, where he fell to the ground,  
bleeding furiously. The bear turned around and ate the two parts  
of the woman, then stepped on the land toward the tree and  
sunk his teeth into the mans head and swallowed him. The bear  
gave a small roar, and walked off.  
  
7:15 A.M.  
  
Tifa and Red XIII awoke at the sound of the alarm, which  
was actually set for somewhere in the six o'clock hour, but was  
put on snooze a few times. Tifa reached to put it on snooze again,  
but Red XIII told her not to. She hesitated and sat up in her bed.  
Red XIII looked at her, jumped off the bed he was on, and climbed  
down the ladder. Tifa threw the covers off of her, her face still hurt  
a little from the hit she took last night. She rolled out of bed and went  
into the bathroom, her clothes were just about dry. She slipped out  
of the robe and into her clothes. She climbed down the ladder and  
Red XIII was nowhere around. She walked out of the door and  
down into the residential area of Cosmo Canyon. Red XIII was  
talking with the gatekeeper. Tifa walked slowly towards them, and  
Red XIII came walking towards her. He said go back into his  
place, she listened, and Red XIII followed. When they reached,  
Tifa sat down at a stool at the table. Red XIII sat on the other  
side. Tifa sighed. "So, shall we call now?" Red XIII looked at  
her doubtfully. "Wait a little bit, give them time to wake up."  
"Barret is up at 6 in the morning every day"  
  
"Oh is he?"  
"Yes"  
"Fine, the phone is over there. Put him on Speaker."  
Tifa did as asked, she put the phone on the table and seen  
the whole crew was on speed dial. She hit 2, as Barret was  
on it. The phone rang, and Barret answered with a deep sounding  
"Yo!"  
"Hey Barret, it's Tifa, I'm with Red XIII, how's it going?"  
"Everything is goin' fine, Midgar is back to normal, what's up  
with you?" Barret asked her.  
"We have sort of a question for you"  
"Yeah? Go."  
"Well, Tifa left Cosmo Canyon last night, a man followed her.  
I tore his head off after he was about to kill her. The weird  
thing is a small monster came out of the man's body and ran  
off. We were thinking maybe Shinra crea--" Red XIII was  
cut off.  
"SHINRA!? I thought we took care of their whole monster  
creating business!"  
"Yeah, well, were not tota--" again cut off.  
"If theres a strange monster, Shinra is behind it!"  
"Yeah, well that's why we called, this monster seemed different  
from their others, we suspect it's behind all of the recent killings.  
We want to sneak into Shinra Headquarters and look around  
for information on it."  
"Yeah, I'm all for it...god damn!"  
"What!?" Tifa asked curiously.  
"I just seen on the news, a man, woman, and their son went  
out camping for a night. Well, a friend went out to see them  
and their tent was high up in the tree. A few meters from the  
tent, there was a pool of blood. And on the river, there was  
more blood. Shinra has people there investigating, but they  
aren't releasing any new information!"  
"That's near where we seen the creature!" Tifa yelled.  
"Yes, it had to be him." Red XIII said lowly.  
"Well then it's settled, you get your sorry asses to Midgar  
and we're going back to Shinra Headquarters!" Barret yelled  
loudly.  
"Oh lord.." Red XIII said.  
"Alright Barret, we'll be there as soon as we can" Tifa told him.  
"Right!" Barret hung up the phone. Red XIII looked at Tifa.  
  
"Are we ready" Red XIII asked. "Well, there's nothing we  
really need to get, we have everything, let's go." Tifa said. They  
got up from the table and walked through the door and down to  
ground level. When they emerged from the door, what do they  
see? "No fuckin way!" Red XIII said loudly. A HUGE bear was  
running around, wrecking havoc on Cosmo Canyon. The bear  
had the gatekeeper in its mouth, and his body snapped in half  
as the bear bit down. The two pieces fell to the ground, and the  
bear looked at Tifa and Red XIII. "Let's go!" Red XIII said  
lowly with a sort of grin on his face. Tifa and Red XIII ran  
straight down the steps toward the bear, side by side, as the  
bear ran straight at them. At about half way down the stairs, the  
bear was almost to the beginning of them. Red XIII dove straight  
forward down the stairs, his front legs stretched out. The bear  
stood up on it's hind legs and roared at Red XIII as it lifted it's  
front legs to swat him. Red XIII bit into the bears front left paw  
and hung on. The bear swung around but Red XIII held on. As  
the bear was about to bite into Red XIII, Tifa reached and  
jumped sideways and gave it a HARD kick to the stomach.  
The bear roared and fell over backwards onto it's back. Red  
XIII let go and jumped on top of him. The bear was clearly  
bigger than him, but Red XIII was tough, and wouldn't give  
up easily.  
  
The bear pushed Red XIII high into the air off of him and  
got up. Red XIII landed in front of him. Tifa was in back. Red  
XIII seen Tifa was charging her fist. Red XIII kept him  
distracted and, the bears head came flying towards Red XIII.  
Tifa was seen standing there, she had used her Final Heaven  
attack on the bear, and it completely took the bears head off.  
The body fell to the ground, and Red XIII walked towards it.  
He sniffed it, and BANG! From the bears stomach, bursted  
out the creature, and was now clawing on Tifa. The blood  
squirted everywhere from the bear and Red XIII was blinded  
for a minute. He clawed viciously at his eyes trying to see again,  
while in the meanwhile Tifa was being cut up atrociously by  
this monster. Tifa managed to punch it off, and Red XIII  
regained his vision. He looekd and the creature took and slash  
at him. Red XIII moved out of the way and dove onto it, but  
the creature was very fast and seemed to be at full power.  
The rest of the town watched in astonishment. The monster  
ran right by Tifa, and down the stairs. Tifa just stood there.  
"After him!!!" Red XIII shouted as he took off quickly after  
the monster. With hesitation, Tifa turned and ran down the  
stairs behind Red XIII. The creature was pulling ahead as  
he turned left towards the forest. This was the forest that  
was made accessible when they defeated Weapon, Red  
XIII thought. There were many places to hide in there.  
The monster was far ahead, and fell out of sight when  
it entered the forest. It quickly jumped into the bottom  
of a tree and dug downward and looked out. It was  
well hidden and seen Tifa and Red XIII stop near him.  
"It got away" Red XIII said lowly. "It's just hiding  
somewhere, let's proceed through this forest, we can  
climb down the mountain on the other side if we don't  
find him. "Alright" Red XIII replied. The creature  
watched them walk off, and curled up and went to  
sleep, how had they beaten him twice!? He thought  
to himself.  
  
Red XIII and Tifa neared the end of the forest,  
they had kept their guard up so high they jumped  
at the sound of a cricket. They both looked down  
over the mountain, and began to climb down. It  
seemed like a really big hill more than a mountain,  
as it went down in a slope instead of straight. Red  
XIII, almost slipping a few times, got to the bottom  
first, and Tifa not long after him. She sighed, and they  
proceeded to Costa Del Sol. It wasn't that hard  
getting there, they fought a few monsters on the way,  
but nothing to hard. They took the next boat out,  
and arrived at Junon around 3:00 P.M. Tifa got a call  
on her cell phone. "Yo Tifa! I'm in the lower level,  
meet me!" Barret said. "Alright." she hung up.  
Red XIII and Tifa then proceeded down to the  
beach of Junon. 


End file.
